Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500 on its way! Full details revealed!

Read everything about the new Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500 Twinspark

Having caught strong momentum over past couple of years with some exciting new launches, the Chennai-based bike-maker Royal Enfield is back in action with their first launch of 2012, the all-new Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500 Twinspark that will be launched very soon. Previously shown at the 2012 Auto Expo held in New Delhi, the new Thunderbird 500 raised quite a storm amongst the biking community with its stylish and cool demeanor coupled with a never-ending list of features seen first time on a Royal Enfield motorcycle ever. Moving ahead with the times sure seems to be the mantra for Royal Enfield, which has evidently managed to keep the balance of form and function on the new Thunderbird.

Powered by the same 499cc single-cylinder 4-stroke air-cooled Twinspark engine that serves on the Classic 500, the motor makes 28PS of power at 5,250rpm and 41.3Nm of torque at 4,000rpm. Fed by an advanced Keihin electronic fuel injection system, the Thunderbird 500 raises the bar higher in the rather diminutive cruiser segment existing in India. Having carefully evaluated the feedback from its dedicated previous generation Thunderbird customer-base, some very useful and handy upgrades have been awarded to the new ‘Bird 500.

There is the beefy 41mm diameter telescopic suspension with 180mm of travel looking after the damping duties upfront while on the rear there are twin gas-charged shock absorbers with 80mm travel. The good’ol drum brake has been junked entirely and there is a large 280mm disc upfront helped by a 240mm disc working on the rear. While the underpinnings have been given a solid tweak over its predecessor, its overall bulk amounting has increased by 8kg from previous 187kg to 195kg (kerb). But care has been taken to make sure that its handling is not affected with the extra bulk and wheelbase has been reduced by 20mm from 1370mm on the previous Thunderbird 350 to 1350mm on the new Thunderbird 500 Twinspark.

To make sure that the tourers are happy and have nothing to complain, there are some very useful features added onto the new Thunderbird like a powerful projector headlamp with H7 55/55W bulb, a sizably big fuel tank capacity of 20 litres and a flashy digital display with neon blue back light. The 19 inch wheel upfront remains unchanged but the rear wheel size has been altered to 18 inches and comes shod with fatter 120-section tyre on the new Thunderbird 500. Stay tuned for the complete launch update and more pictures of the new Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500 Twinspark!